Chapter 2: A Step Into Darkness
"Hey yourself." she responded, smirking. Kit pointed to the west side of the room and moved her hand to point at Ekiken, as a chair which was next to the wall moved over directly behind the warrior, who sat down right away. "Well, that went rather well." Ekiken nodded in response before his eyes widened in shock. He swiftly turned to see the shadow on the floor, jumping out of his chair, as Kit did as well. "Intruder!!" Kit shouted. The shadow flustered before appearing out of the ground, revealing a bunch of Tornado Step Heartless who began spinning at high speeds right away, tearing away at whatever they hit. They were dark turquoise in color, with teardrop-shaped heads, and two arms each, with no legs. Instead, they hovered and flew around causing intense winds. "Diamond Dust!" Ekiken called, brandishing his weapon, as Kit called forth her Lionheart. Every other fighter in the building revealed their weapons, be they Keyblades, swords, polearms, and various other weapons. The Tornado Steps kept emerging as the size of the shadow gradually decreased. The great battle began as every person with a weapon began to do battle with the Heartless invaders, as those without one grabbed whatever they could use. "Damnit, Ekiken, why didn't you check for the shadows?" Kit shouted, but her complaint was drowned out by the noise of clashing metal and battle cries.
Just then, Ekiken's voice echoed throughout the rooms, "Everybody! Triple Gravity Combination!" On cue, everyone reached into their pockets, each of them pulled out three blue-rimmed cards, each with a small image of a ball of dark energy on it. Tossing them into the air, the warriors struck their three cards in rapid succession, as each weapon began to glow a purple-black color. Aiming the edges at the Tornado Steps, each weapon emitted giant balls of gravity-inducing darkness, which, once they came into contact with the Heartless, slammed them into the ground. Most of the Tornado Steps were eliminated after this attack, their black heart emblems glowing before they dissipated into shadows and disappearing. About a third of them were left, and the warriors had no trouble dispersing them with regular attacks and spells.
Suddenly, Kit shrieked; the shadow that had spit out the Heartless had not left. It had actually begun to emanate an evil aura. Ekiken soon noticed, slowly turning the other way. "Everyone get out, now!!" With shouts of terror, the rebels turned for the exit and ran, as Kit stood on the other side, helpless. Ekiken watched the others escape, then turned to notice Kit staring in terror at the pulsating puddle of darkness. "Kit, get out of there!" She seemed to not hear his cry of warning, as she remained inanimate. Cursing under his breath, Ekiken ran for the far side of the hall towards her. Just before he could reach her, the pool of darkness exploded forth with dark energy, creating a wall of evil. He stopped just short of the barrier, throwing himself onto his back before rolling backwards, onto his left knee, gripping his Diamond Dust tightly. The area's foundation began to crumble, as Ekiken noticed the ceiling begin to come down. Large fragments of the ceiling had begun to crash onto the ground, and Ekiken had no choice but to escape. As more and more of the room began to collapse, the entrance was almost completely sealed off. Ekiken hurtled himself through the small opening just before it was closed off by the rubble, rolling forward as he landed. Getting to his feet, he leaped up the stairs, a large piece of the ceiling landing where he jumped from every time. He emerged from the entrance just as it became completely shut out, his final landing in the center of the street. He panted heavily; looking around to make sure everyone else had gotten out. The earth was still shaking, he noticed. He then realized that the rumbling was beginning to isolate its point of origin, zeroing in to the spot above where the back office underground was. "Kit..."
The rumbling began to grow in frequency and intensity, as the surfaced warriors prepared for the worst, spell cards on standby. With a mighty eruption, a wave of darkness spilled out from the hole. The warriors began to call out defensive spells and techniques, as Ekiken jumped out of the wave's path. He was horrified to see the wave somehow change course and begin heading for him. "Damnit, it wants me!!" Ekiken thought, as he repeatedly dodged the oncoming wave. Once all of it had exited the hole, he made a break for it, hoping to find Kit. He dove into the hole just as the wave flew over it, not redescending into it. Instead, the wave leaked a few drops, which expanded into a Large Body Heartless, a fat, soldieresque being. After double taking the new enemy, Ekiken noticed Kit's motionless body. Picking her up, he put her over his shoulder, holding her in place with his left hand while gripping his weapon in his right. He stuck it in the sheath on his belt, then reached into his coat, taking out another spell card, with an image of a clock on it. He tossed it up and pierced it with his Keyblade, performing Stop on the Large Body, freezing it in time. The wave disappeared from the hole before Ekiken leapt out of it, still carrying the body of Kit.
The warriors had managed to keep the darkness busy, but it kept releasing various Heartless, which they had to deal with. "Entrap it within a set boundary!" Ekiken shouted, giving them a strategy. Four random warriors arranged themselves in a square formation around the perimeter of the area the wave was destroying, and each tossed and pierced three Blizzard cards each, aiming their ice of the adjacent members, forming a large, solid box of ice. They kept pumping energy into the ice, as the wave was successfully trapped within it. The warriors who were within the barrier used Aero spells, which had tornadoes on their cards, to fly themselves out of the area. Ekiken then pulled out a card, which was yellow-rimmed. "Keyhole!" he cried, as he activated the card, aiming his Diamond Dust at the icy wall. A shockwave hit it, as a small, keyhole shaped pattern appeared on it. Ekiken made a whirling motion before aiming at the icy wall again, specifically at the keyhole shape. "Keyhole Sealing Beam!" Ekiken cried, as the tip emitted a small, cyan beam of light. The beam went straight through the keyhole, as a loud, locking sound was heard. At that instant, the giant, icy dome, as well as its contents, faded away, revealing the empty street intersection, which had been cleared of snow as well. Ekiken sighed in relief as the warriors recalled their weapons, now confused as to what to do. Ekiken then gently put Kit on the ground and tried to wake her up, repeatedly calling her name in a panicky tone. He then noticed her eyes were open, her pupils wide, but she didn't appear to be conscious at all. He realized the shocking truth. "It... it took her heart..."
The other members of the rebellion gathered around, each bearing saddened expressions, some bowing their heads in quiet respect. As Ekiken sat there, tears fell from his face. "I will avenge you, no matter what... I swear it..." Once the tears ceased, he got to his feet, head still bowed. His voice rang out clearly, "Listen. Kit's heart has been taken by the Heartless. I will go after the wave and follow it. Someone with a Keyblade, seal us back in after I get in." The others gasped, but Ekiken didn't hesitate. He immediately took the Keyhole card he had used and threw it on the ground, as it shattered open. The icy dome then began to appear, rising out of the ground without any quaking. Ekiken stood on the peak of it, the breeze blowing his jacket and hair back. Swirling his blade around, he leapt into the air and drove the Diamond Dust through the ice, penetrating it effortlessly, as he fell through the hole. A random rebel stepped forward, and aimed his Kingdom Key Keyblade at the Keyhole slot, using the Sealing Beam technique to reseal the icy dome, with the wave - and Ekiken - inside, as the icy dome faded, yet again. The boy's face was riddled with tears.
Ekiken could see nothing but complete darkness. Gradually, he felt the ground beneath him fade away, until he seemed to be floating in nothingness. He envisioned himself rescuing Kit in his mind for the next few minutes, and before he knew it, he had landed on something. He opened his eyes to discover he had successfully emerged within the inner workings of the dark wave. It was a horrifying sight; the walls pulsated and glowed in vein-like formations all around the elliptical wall. Various creepy formations came from the walls, ceiling, and ground, which seemed to transfer pulses of dark energy between each other. Once Ekiken had fully materialized within this bizarre place, he began to felt a sharp sting all over his body. The dark energy within the wave was hacking away at him. He immediately pulled out one of his Gravity cards and activated it, surrounding himself in a boundary of dark energy. Not able to be harmed by his own spells, the ball of gravity darkness kept him safe. He kept it going as he proceeded forward, deeper into the bowels of the evil being. As he began to look around, he noticed all of the strains of darkness seemed to originate from one point. He couldn't see too far ahead because the dark was fogging his vision somewhat, but he followed the strands of darkness, against their flow direction.
After a few minutes, he reached a large, temple-like formation, to which he noticed the dark formations were connected, absorbing the energy from the building. Entering it, the darkness in the air seemed to thin out, as the Gravity spell wore out, but it was no longer necessary, he could walk about freely inside somehow. Focusing on the task at hand, Ekiken continued to the "altar room" dead ahead. As he approached it, he could make out the moaning of a female voice. "Kit? No..." This voice was different than Kit's, much higher in tone. Reacting to his words, a pair of eyes lit up a deep violet color in the darkness, as Ekiken was startled. The fog cleared almost instantly to reveal some sort of girl hovering in the epicentre of the dark formations, it appearing that the dark energy was flowing out of her. "What's this?!" she called in a high-pitched shriek. "How did you get in here?!" Ekiken frowned, expecting a battle, as he gripped his Keyblade. The dark maiden noticed the weapon in his hand. "A Keyblade! That must be it... Die, Keyblade wielder!" The girl thrusted her hands forward, as streams of darkness rose from the ground, ready to pounce on him. Ekiken prepared for battle.
The girl let out a loud shriek as she fully extended all of her limbs outward. The room reacted, as more streams of dark energy crept out of the walls and ceiling. She then pointed at Ekiken, as random streams shot themselves at the Key master. Using sheer adrenaline, he dodged each stream that came at him, as they formed a complex web of dark energy. As each strand shot out, there was less and less room to move that wasn't covered by evil energy. "Damnit..." As he was backed into a corner, he had no choice but to invoke his Aero card, allowing him to fly. He spun his Diamond Dust as he hurtled himself towards the girl, hoping to sever her from the darkness, in the off-chance that she was just being controlled and was not truly evil. He flew up to her from the eight, and sliced through the thin line of energy flow beside her, as a big spark blew him into the wall. The formation on her left collapsed, as the girl fell to her left side, no longer supported on her sinistral side. Around half of the streams that spread across the floor evaporated, just in time for the Aero spell to wear off. Ekiken fell to the ground, landing between three streams, sighing in relief.
The girl turned to him, obviously extremely angered. Ekiken jumped out of the way as she shot a bolt of dark energy at him, missing him slightly, as he rolled to his feet in the clearing between her and the wall. "OK, time to end this." he thought, as he pulled out a spell card with a image of a lightbulb on it, piercing it with his weapon. "Light!" he called, as the card exploded with a burst of light. The darkness evaporated and dissipated in reaction. The girl shrieked in pain, as the other formation connected to her was destroyed. A few loud firecracker-like cracks were heard, as the girl fell to the ground, all dark influences removing themselves from her.
All of the streams and dark energy left the dark temple, even after the light spell had faded. The girl sat, slowly waking from her trance. "Ugh... Where am I...?" she barely managed to say, still a little shaky from the sudden relief of the darkness that had been controlling her. Ekiken walked over to her and helped her to her feet. The girl had lightly pink-tinted hair, with a headband tied around the top of her hair. Her eyes sparkled a deep red. She wore a dark purple outfit, with shoulderless arms, and pant legs that reached below her knees. She wore pink leather shoes with small, wing-like decorations on them. "Come on, we'd better find a way out of here." As she stood up, Ekiken noticed a card fall out of her pocket. Picking it up, he smiled. He threw the card up and striked it with his Keyblade. "Exit!" The Diamond Dust then shot out a thick, yellow beam, which penetrated the ceiling of the temple, and then the roof of the creature. Ekiken recalled his weapon and stashed it in his pocket as he and the girl leapt out of it, feeling a hard shockwave as they passed through the surface.
Just before they could completely pass the perimeter of the beast, Ekiken felt something tug on his right foot, as his ascent came to a halt. He looked down to see one of the dark formations that had held the girl wrapped around his foot. It sent jolts of electricity through his body as he cringed in pain, his effort to escape foiled by a mere thread of dark energy. Now out of strength, Ekiken began to fall back into the depths.
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